Coby White’s recent resurgence is about to get tested.
The Bulls point guard is coming off a zero turnover night against Charlotte on Thursday, and has been clean in that department in four of the last five games.
One turnover in the loss to Memphis last week, four in the first game against Cleveland, and then one turnover at Boston and in the Cleveland rematch.
What gives?
“I spend a lot of time talking to Mo,’’ White said, referring to assistant coach Mo Cheeks. “I know y’all are tired of hearing me talk about Mo, but I spend a lot of time talking to Mo because he was a Hall of Fame point guard and just learning from him as much as I can.
“He’s been a tremendous help for me, personally. Especially at the point guard position, just teaching me and showing me the ropes and ways that I can impact the game other than just scoring.’’
The problem is Cheeks can only prepare him so much. Two games with Miami and then New York will be final exam time on if White understands the lessons being learned.
Miami came into Friday the third-best defensive team in points allowed, and turns teams over 14.4 times per game for eighth-best in the league. Tom Thibodeau’s team doesn’t turn backcourts over at a high rate, but they suffocate them with physicality and pressure to make the right plays, leading the league in points allowed (104.7) and opponents’ field goal percentage (44.2).
Quietly, however, White has been better in the ball security department, seemingly learning on the fly. No easy feat considering the ever-changing personnel and the lack of practice time.
In December, White turned the ball over three times a game. By the end of January, it was down to 2.5. He came out of the month of February with 2.1 turnovers per game, and got it down to 1.9 for the month of in March. So far in April, he’s at 1.8 turnovers per game.
He gets it. That’s a great sign.
But credit Cheeks for making sure he gets it.
“I’m not going to say what he says,’’ White said laughing about his talks with Cheeks. “The main thing he says is never have the same turnover twice. If you come down dribble in traffic, come off the ball screen, you know the next possession that traffic still gone be there. Never have the same turnover twice, that’s his biggest thing that he tells me. Learn from that turnover.
“You’re going to make mistakes, nobody is perfect.’’
White certainly isn’t, and while he has been taking more of a point guard mentality, especially with Zach LaVine in the health and safety protocol and out of the picture for now, that doesn’t mean the point guard issues of this team are suddenly settled.
What White has shown is that he can handle the duties better than he did at the start of the year, and he is coachable in that department.
“You get to a place where you say, ‘OK here are the things I know I have to do to help the team,’ ‘’ coach Billy Donovan said about White. “Coby’s always been a team guy. I’m happy to see him grow and progress the way he has over the course of the season.’’
Now, however, he has to finish the season in that upward trend, starting Saturday in Miami.
“We know we’re in for a dog fight going to Miami,’’ White added.
And those dogs bite.
